Say what?

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"  -Matt. 7:21-23

This is a sobering and often frightening passage of Scripture as it makes it abundantly clear that there will be many people on the Day of Judgment who will have participated in church ministries, were involved in humanitarian efforts in the name of God, experienced emotional seasons of intense worship, and even performed miraculous spiritual signs and wonders, who will be turned away from heaven as lost unbelievers.  They will religious lives, seeking signs and wonders rather than Christ Himself and forgiveness of sins.  They will rely on their own efforts and good works rather than on the imputed righteousness of Christ.  Their cries harkening back to their religious experiences and good works as their sure entry into heaven will be to no avail.

This group of sadly mistaken individuals will be made up of evangelists, preachers, Bible teachers, missionaries, church members, and all other types of people who boldly proclaim to be Christians.  It will only be in the Judgment that they will find out this is simply not the case, nor was it ever.

Judas Iscariot fell into this same camp. Not only was he a chosen disciple of Christ, but he held a leadership position as the group treasurer and he was involved in miracles and signs in Christ’s ministry (Luke 9:1).

And yet still, he ended up in hell.  Judas was obviously a somewhat of a 'good soldier' and he was even well-liked by the other disciples as they were shocked at Christ's revelation during the institution of the Supper that Judas would be His betrayer that night.  None of them suspected Judas to be the betrayer Christ spoke of, rather each thought it could be himself (Mark 14:19).  Judas had been living a double life throughout the ministry of Christ.  He was noted later as stealing from the money gathered during the ministry (John 12:6), putting up the front that he genuinely cared for the poor all the while taking from them.  He was a cheat and a con-artist, but no one suspected a thing; no one except Jesus, who sees and knows hearts.

What’s the point of all this?

Religious experiences, being a good person, being religiously devout, having the appearance of faithfulness on the outside, proclaiming the name of Christ, and ‘making the world a better place’ will not gain anyone entry into heaven, much less will these efforts earn anyone forgiveness of sins.  Only Jesus can do that (John 14:6).

We are all called to repent and confess Christ as raised from the dead and the Lord of our lives (Rom. 10:9-10; 1 Cor. 15:4).  Any other methods or means we trust in for salvation will fail us.

Repent of sin and trust in Him as Lord and Savior of your life. He is the only way.